At the same time Liu Chengzong got two red cannons.
Throughout the Fenhe River Basin, Shanxi government troops are mobilizing to the Luliang Mountains.
Pingyang Guard mobilized two thousand banner troops to be stationed in Daning and Pu counties, and sent another thousand households to lead troops to station in Liulang Village on Luliang Mountain to strangle Xi County's entry into Huozhou.
Li Shien, from the Inspection Department of Kukongguan in the northeast of Shilou County, Southern Hebei Province put down the letter and sighed.
He was filled with envy for Pingyang Wei.
Pingyang Guard does not have the Royal Palace to hold it back, and there is also a permanent counselor. With more than 5,000 flag troops, some of them can go away and some can be left behind, and 3,300 people can still be deployed to set up defenses.
The meaning is also very obvious, as long as the thieves do not disturb Pingyang Mansion, they have no control over other places.
He is different. His full official title is deputy envoy guarding the Second Prefecture of Lu'an and Fenzhou in southern Hebei Province.
It sounds very capable, but in fact there are three palaces in these two palaces: Qingcheng Palace, Yonghe Palace, and Shen Palace.
Fenzhou and Luzhou are clearly states, but they are administrative units at the prefecture level. This is because in the past, the three royal palaces were rampant, and the state level allowed officials to be oppressed by the two palaces.
Therefore, Luzhou was upgraded to Lu'an Prefecture during the reign of Emperor Jiajing; Fenzhou was upgraded to Fenzhou Prefecture in the 22nd year of Wanli.
At this point, Lu'an Prefecture is even more difficult to handle than Fenzhou Prefecture. There are two very important counties in Lu'an Prefecture, one is called Changzhi and the other is Pingshun.
In ancient times, place names were given to express beautiful aspirations. Peace can lead to unrest, peace can lead to unevenness, smoothness can lead to irregularities, and governance can lead to failure.
In Pingshun, there used to be a petty official named Chen Qing who gathered a crowd to rebel in the Taihang Mountains. From the 10th year of Zhengde to the 7th year of Jiajing, he fought with the imperial court. When his power was at its strongest, he captured seven state capitals in the southern part of the Taihang Mountains.
Therefore, Li Shien, the military commander in charge of the two governments, seemed to have his hands and feet tied up under the condition of limited resources, and it was difficult to accomplish anything.
In the past few days, he had forced some sergeants back from Wangzhuang in various places, and mobilized the people of Fenyang, Xiaoyi, Pingyao, Jiexiu and other places, and finally pulled out a force of 6,000 people for defense.
They were stationed in Wucheng in the northern section of Luliang Mountain and Kulongguan in the middle section.
What should I say about his military strength?
Last year, King Qin's army in Shanxi mutinied and fled. Li Shi'en was worried that the four counties in Fenzhou Prefecture would be plundered by the defeated army, so he devoted himself to supervising the people's physical training throughout the winter and before spring.
Therefore, the people of Fenzhou Prefecture are well trained, and there are also many troops in each township. Shanxi Iron and Steel Industry is particularly developed.
It cannot be said to be a mob.
But the farming is busy.
After several years of drought, we finally saw snow last winter.
The destructive power of this busy farming period to the Minzhuang and the Banner Army was almost as much as the rain of peasant rebellions.
Moreover, the thieves have not yet entered Fenzhou territory, so it will be difficult to draw them out to fight.
It can only be said that he is reluctant.
They alone are not enough to solve the siege of Yongning Prefecture. As for the troubles in Xizhou, Li Shien has no time to deal with it.
And subjectively, Li Shien didn't want to take care of it. In the past two days, he sent reconnaissance cavalry into Yonghe County via Shilou to collect the intelligence returned. It seems that the bandit soldiers led by 'General Liu' did three things.
Zhang Zhan's banner army was annihilated, a valley government was established, and more than 400 criminal banner soldiers were executed.
They laid siege to an earthen fort in Xixiang, Yonghe County. The people said that a government official lived there. The detective did not know which official it was.
Then he sent people to collect and bury the corpses of the victims in Zaowang Mountain and Fanjiashan Mountain, and then led his troops to leave after worshiping.
In addition, it seems that he is stationing troops in the earth fort, and I don't know what he wants to do.
Based on these three things, Li Shien believed that he should first defend the four counties of Fenzhou with limited troops, at least to prevent the rebels from crossing Luliang Mountain.
Then Luzhou Guard reinforcements were mobilized to deal with General Gao who sent troops to rob the wealthy households in Yongning Prefecture.
Che Cai, who was temporarily appointed as the staff of the Bingbei Road, asked: "What about General Liu from Yonghe County? Let him go first?"
"General Liu?"
Li Shien took a deep breath, raised his hand and put his fist to his mouth, exhaling heavily: "I have asked Datong for help."
Checai blinked, suspecting that he heard wrongly.
He didn't understand the logic of the matter and asked: "He didn't do anything. Datong asked for help. Even if he wanted to ask for help from Datong, he should use Datong soldiers to attack General Gao, right?"
"Brother Che, whether he is not stained with mud or King Gao Chuang, they are not as good as General Liu. He collects and buries the corpses of the people and punishes the guilty banner troops. He is not a bad person."
Li Shien shifted his body on the chair, faced Cha Cai, and said seriously: "But you have seen a thief and know what a thief looks like. Is he a thief?"
Checai nodded, then shook his head, with a troubled expression on his face.
Since General Liu collected and buried the corpses of Zaowang Mountain, his family members must also be among them.
The officers and soldiers killed his entire family, and the thieves avenged him and buried his entire family.
Che Cai could no longer tell who was the thief and who was the soldier. He asked, "Does it matter whether he is a thief or not?"
"I know Brother Che wants to say that he is not a thief. I also think that he is not a thief. Whether he is a thief or not is not important, but what he is not a thief is very important."
Li Shien sighed. He didn't know who General Liu was: "No matter what, I get a salary from the imperial court and am appreciated by the emperor. I can't deal with him with these things in my hand."
Che Cai was silent for a long time, then raised his hand and tapped twice on the table: "First fight King Gao Chuang."
Unfortunately, things didn't go as they hoped.
The Luzhou Flag Guard was ordered to mobilize on March 12. On that day, three thousand flag troops were mobilized, put down their hoes and put on their battle armor, and quickly marched towards Fenzhou Prefecture via Qinzhou.
They entered the country quickly, setting off on the afternoon of the 13th, and on the morning of the 16th they had crossed the 200-mile mountain road and reached Qinyuan County.
But that’s as far as it goes.
On the night when the flag army set off, the remaining flag army stationed in Pingshun County, together with the deserters of King Qin who were hiding in the Taihang Mountains, attacked Wangzhuang, the residence of Prince Shen outside the city.
Prince Shen's Mansion galloped to ask for help from the departing flag army. The flag army had no choice but to send a galloping horse to inform Li Shi'en of the situation and lead the troops back to Lu'an Mansion.
On the other side, the troops stationed in Wucheng that Li Shien dispatched started fighting.
It wasn't Gao Yingxiang, or Bu Zhanni who was heading north, it was them who accidentally discovered the bandit's cottage.
The leader's name was Bashan Hu, whose real surname was Gao. He was from Fenxi County. When there was a drought in the sixth year of Tianqi, he and his fellow villagers went to Luliang Mountain.
The local government tried to send patrols to arrest them, but they were all locals. In the end, they said they ran away and could not be found, so the matter was over.
Bashan Hu's life was quite comfortable, and it was not because of the Shaanxi peasant army's invasion of Shanxi. Suddenly he received news that the imperial army had entered the mountain, and he instinctively thought that these army soldiers were here to find him.
He quickly mobilized more than 500 people to pack up and prepare to flee, and at the same time sent people to keep an eye on the movements of the officers and soldiers.
But they found that this group of people had no intention of going into battle. Thousands of people were divided into two groups, one in front and one in front, walking in a long line in the mountains.
Can you do this for a while?
Bashan Hu's mood was uncertain, and he was struggling several times in his heart.
The nickname he chose from Journey to the West is indeed unlucky.
The Little Demon, a subordinate of the Golden and Silver Horn brothers, and Yi Hailong were beaten to death by Sun Wukong with a stick.
He also had a brother named Yi Hailong, who had a fight with the army several years ago and died.
But after looking at the cottage where I had lived for several years, I felt really reluctant to run away, so I finally decided to work for a while.
Immediately, he divided his more than 200 strong men into four teams, set up an ambush on the mountain road, and defeated more than a thousand unsuspecting officers and soldiers.
With a question mark on his face, Bashan Hu led his men to pack up the weapons and armor left behind by the officers and soldiers, and collected the flags and horses.
I thought: I haven't been out of the army for several years, how weak are the officers and soldiers like this?
How could I know that when I asked the prisoner, I didn't come to see him at all.
The news reached Kukongguan, and Li Shien was choked while eating.
It was a bit unseemly to be defeated by bandits, but it was understandable. He admitted that the intelligence work was not done well.
It would be outrageous for the Luzhou Guards to withdraw their troops. Your prince is staying in the palace, and the thieves dare to enter the city and kill you, right?
At this time, another person came and reported: "Master Bingxian, the people are clamoring to go home and farm."
This was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Li Shien was so angry that he threw the bowl. After throwing it, he thought about how hard it was to find the rice grains. Then he angrily picked up the rice grains from the ground and continued to eat.
The subordinate advised: "Sir, please serve another bowl. If you eat uncleanly, you will easily get sick."
"Sick? If you don't get sick, you will die sooner or later. If you die, you won't have to worry about it."
Li Shi'en took a deep breath and shook his head, and said angrily: "Death in office can be regarded as repaying the emperor's kindness. It's the best of both worlds."
To be honest, he wanted to go to the capital, put in good words and get some connections, so he could be transferred elsewhere.
I don’t know what evil I did in my previous life to become an official in front of the feudal king.
Before he could finish the meal, another piece of news made Li Shien's blood pressure exceed his height: "Master Bing Xian, Liu, General Liu seems to have left Yonghe."
Li Shien stared at his subordinates. The wording of the report was wrong: "What does it mean to look like? What does it mean to go out?"
You told me where you went!
The subordinate who sent the message was also aggrieved: "Our reconnaissance cavalry in Shilou was pulled out. The last message was sent yesterday afternoon. No news came back from Xizhou City today. I can only confirm that the two cities are not lost."
"The scout was pulled?"
That means there is more danger than good.
Li Shien shook his head slowly. As he thought, that was not a person he could deal with with the manpower and material resources at hand.
His men passed through the mountains without knowing how to place sentries. They knew that they would pull out the opponent's reconnaissance cavalry first. How could they fight against it?
He thought about it, decided to give up, and said to his subordinates: "Finally, send a message to Yonghe County, Shilou, and Xizhou City. If the city is besieged, light up the smoke and have the scouts move to Renjiazhuang. Don't go there again." I touched around three cities.”
Renjiazhuang is located in the middle of the three counties, and the distance from each city is about twenty miles.
In his opinion, his current energy is limited and he is unable to hold Gao Yingxiang in the north and Liu Chengzong in the south.
Anyway, Liu Chengzong didn't harm the people. On the other hand, he seemed to have the idea of attacking the city, so let him play in Xizhou. As long as he couldn't come over, it didn't matter if he was willing to open a small county government in the valley.
After all, it was Pingyang Mansion. The Pingyang Guards held the army and had no intention of coming to the north to help him. There was no need for him to be warm-hearted and cold-hearted.
He got up and went to the hall and wrote another letter, addressed to King Shen, asking the prince not to bother the flag army.
He believed that King Shen had a deep understanding of justice and would definitely understand his good intentions.
In fact, Prince Shen is quite good. Last winter, the people were running out of food and grass, and the seven counties of Fenzhou Prefecture did not give him any money or food. However, Prince Shen donated food to him after he found out about this.
Moreover, Prince Shen's Mansion often shipped some grain to Xuanda to replenish military supplies after farmers paid rent.
Although it's still not enough, I don't know how much better it is than others.
Yes, the other person he was talking about was Prince Qingcheng who kept having babies.
After all, this is a vassal clan that single-handedly changed the rules of wives and concubines of the Ming Dynasty clan.
Before the Hongzhi Year, the imperial court did not impose restrictions on the number of wives and concubines in the clan. As a result, King Qingcheng Kuangkuang gave birth to ninety-four children. The Shanxi censor of the court suspected that the Qingcheng palace had adopted babies from outside and defrauded the court.
After checking the results, it was found that all ninety-four children were the biological children of King Qingcheng.
Later, a rule was simply issued that the feudal king could have up to four concubines, but this rule was useless. The next generation of King Qingcheng directly gave birth to seventy sons.
At one time, the Shanxi clan's Lumi exceeded Shanxi's tax revenue by 290,000 shi.
If a bad guy appears in a normal world, he may disappear from everyone because he has no ability.
Then the probability of bad guys coming out of the vassal king will only be this high, not lower, because they themselves have the power.
In other palaces, there is one bad guy out of five people, but in Qingcheng Palace, there are ten bad guys out of fifty people.
Who can withstand this destructive power!
What Li Shien watched every day was which Zhuangzi was robbed by King Gao Chuang's troops.
Either Lin County is asking for help and has been besieged for five days.
But he did not dare to let the army enter the west of Luliang Mountain, so he could only station the troops at Kukong Pass.
He could roughly guess where the main force of Gao Yingxiang's troops was as he broke through the gentry fortress, but Liu Chengzong's troops completely disappeared from his sight, and they disappeared for three whole days.
Days are like years.
He even asked Che Cai: "Do you think General Liu has returned to Shaanxi?"
But this is just the good hope in his heart.
On the evening of March 19, the soldiers of the express delivery shop rushed from the direction of Fenyang, bringing a letter asking for help from Pingyang Prefecture.
"How the hell do I still have the energy to send reinforcements!"
After hearing him curse, Che asked out of curiosity: "Brother Shi'en, what's in the letter?"
"Their Liulang Village in Luliang Mountain was easy to defend but difficult to attack. The result? The letter said that most of the lion thief Liu Chengzong jumped into Luliang Mountain and set up red artillery to bombard Liulang Village. The Pingyang Guards Banner Guards stationed there were beaten to death. As soon as they showed up, the army immediately abandoned their baggage and sneaked across the east."
Li Shien handed the letter to Che Cai: "He has entered Huozhou!"
Checai rubbed his eyes and took the letter. After reading it for a while, he sighed.
The letter also stated that the officers and soldiers currently stationed in Pu County had broken camp and moved northward, hoping to pursue the bandit army from the rear. The Pingyang Guard troops on the other side were also heading north, trying to attack from both sides and block the lion bandit in the Luliang Mountains.
Since there are only a thousand flag troops stationed in Puzhou, they are worried that there are not enough troops to block the back road, and they hope that the Pingyang Guard Banner Army can send people south.
Liulang Village is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it was a military stronghold in the Song Dynasty. In that era, when choosing the location of the stronghold, no consideration was given to guarding against artillery bombardment.
But what puzzled Che Cai the most was not this.
He asked Li Shien: "Brother Shien, among the people you can mobilize, do you have any red barbarian cannons?"
"Why do we have those things? They are not used to attack and defend cities."
"Then why does Lion Liu have it?"
"Oh, how do I know? Why don't you, Brother Che, ask Prince Qingcheng's Mansion to see if the prince built it for him? I feel that the biggest enemies of Fenzhou Mansion are in the east and west cities, no!"
Li Shien looked serious. He was thinking about why others couldn't be like him and just stay in one place and not move.
Obviously you can't beat others. If you don't operate it, you won't make a mistake. Once you operate it, you will get it.
"They are all enemies. Those who cross the border without authorization, those who ask for reinforcements and mobilize troops, those who go home to farm, or those who are ambushed on the road, can't use their brains. Zhang Zhan's 1,700 people are dead, and those 1,000 people can stop him. Is there a way out? One of them counts, if it’s done, he’s a fucking traitor and he’s not unjust!”
